Integrated circuit radio devices

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a semiconductor device 2 comprising a radio transmitter hardware section 10 and a processor 4, the device 2 being arranged to transmit information via said transmitter hardware section 10 from a first application running on the processor 4 in accordance with a first communication protocol or from a second application running on the processor 4 or a further processor using a second communication protocol, wherein the first application is configured to generate a first transmit request 24 when it requires to send a data packet and wherein the second application is configured to generate a second transmit request 34 when the second application requires to send a data packet, the device further comprising control logic 22 for allocating a transmission timeslot for said transmitter section 10 to said first or second application upon receipt of said first 24 or second 34 transmit requests respectively.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/038,870, filed May24, 2016, which is a U.S. National Stage of International ApplicationNo. PCT/GB2014/053350, filed Nov. 12, 2014, which was published inEnglish under PCT Article 21(2), which in turn claims the benefit ofGreat Britain Application No. 1320912.7, filed Nov. 27, 2013. Allapplications are incorporated herein in their entirety.

This invention relates to integrated-circuit radio-communication devicesand methods of configuring such devices.

Integrated-circuit radio-communication devices typically integrate aprocessor, memory and radio communication logic on a silicon chip. Anantenna may be fabricated on the silicon or may be connected externally.The device will have pins for connecting to a power supply, clock sourceand any external peripherals such as sensors, timers, digital-to-analogconverters and output devices. The processor interfaces with the radiocommunication logic in order to supervise the sending and/or receivingof radio messages.

Such radio-communication devices, or chips, can be used in a wide rangeof wireless products, such as wireless mice and keyboards, controllersfor game consoles, bicycle speedometers, remote controls, garage-dooropeners, wireless loudspeakers, etc.

The processor on such a device may run software directly fromnon-volatile memory in order to control the radio communication logicaccording to a predetermined radio protocol, such as Bluetooth,Bluetooth Low Energy® or ZigBee®.

The manufacturing of a complete product, such as a wireless mouse, thatincorporates such a radio-communication chip typically involves themanufacturer of the radio chip supplying it to a product manufacturer,who will integrate the chip into the rest of the product. The chipmanufacturer may also provide a development kit, containing tools, suchas a cross compiler, loader and debugger, and documentation that allowthe product manufacturer to develop, install and debug customapplication software for the radio device. The custom applicationsoftware may, for instance, include routines for receiving input from amovement sensor on a wireless mouse and for transmitting suitable radiomessages according to a desired protocol.

A development kit may additionally include source code for a softwarelibrary and/or operating system, written by the chip manufacturer. Theproduct manufacturer can then compile and link the supplied source codewith its own custom software application, to create a single object filefor loading to a predetermined address in the memory of each chip.

The library or operating system may contain instructions that implementa particular radio protocol. It could include other functions, such asmemory management, processor scheduling, inter-process communication,etc. The application developer can call these supplied functions fromits application code, rather than having to write them from scratch.This can make development of the application software simpler andquicker. It can also ease portability between different models of theradio chip.

In some cases there is a need for a device to be able to operate usingdifferent radio protocols. For example a single device may need tosupport communication using both WiFi (IEEE 802.11) and Bluetooth® orboth Bluetooth® and a proprietary radio protocol.

US 2008/0287158 A1 provides a method for sharing a communication mediumbetween multiple communication protocols with independenttransmission/reception hardware using a shared antenna with a hardwarearbitration apparatus. Similarly, EP 1729463 A1 provides a method forsharing an antenna between multiple communication protocols.

Thus it is known in the art to have completely separate radioinfrastructure dedicated to each protocol but this is expensive in termsof resources and could also lead to interference between the two typesof radio communication.

It is therefore more practical to share the antenna and othertransmission/reception resources. Typically this is done by writinglibraries and source code which coordinate the operation of the twoprotocols using an in-depth knowledge of the real-time requirements andinter-frame timing of each. Such a combined protocol stack may be aviable option where the two protocols are standard ones. Although such astack is more complex to use and will often require requalification toadd features, it can be provided and properly tested by a chipmanufacturer. However when it is desired to include a proprietaryprotocol with a standard one, the developer implementing the code needsto have a thorough knowledge of both protocols and there is the risk oferrors arising from the increased complexity which can cause problemswith one or both of them.

The present invention aims to address this issue and when viewed from afirst aspect provides a semiconductor device comprising a radiotransmitter hardware section and a processor, the device being arrangedto transmit information via said transmitter hardware section from afirst application running on the processor in accordance with a firstcommunication protocol or from a second application running on theprocessor or a further processor using a second communication protocol,wherein the first application is configured to generate a first transmitrequest when it requires to send a data packet and wherein the secondapplication is configured to generate a second transmit request when thesecond application requires to send a data packet, the device furthercomprising control logic for allocating a transmission timeslot for saidtransmitter section to said first or second application upon receipt ofsaid first or second transmit requests respectively, the device furthercomprising an application programming interface which permits the secondprotocol to be defined.

When viewed from a second aspect the invention provides a semiconductordevice comprising a radio receiver hardware section and a processor, thedevice being arranged to receive information via said receiver hardwaresection to a first application running on the processor in accordancewith a first communication protocol or to a second application runningon the processor or a further processor using a second communicationprotocol, wherein the first application is configured to generate afirst receive request when it requires to receive a data packet andwherein the second application is configured to generate a secondreceive request when the second application requires to receive a datapacket, the device further comprising control logic for allocating areception timeslot for said receiver section to said first or secondapplication upon receipt of said first or second receive requestsrespectively, the control logic being arranged in the event of receivingconflicting first and second receive requests to allocate said receptiontimeslot based on said first and second protocol priority levelindicators.

Thus it will be seen by those skilled in the art that in accordance withthe invention two radio protocols can share radio hardware resourceswithout each having a detailed knowledge of the other as would berequired if their operation were fully coordinated. This allows theprotocols to be implemented independently of one another, in separatestacks, which in turn allows a standard protocol to be supplied,pre-qualified, in a stack by a chip vendor without any compile-time orlink-time dependencies with the other protocol implemented on thedevice. The other protocol, e.g. a proprietary protocol, can be writtenby a developer without needing to consider the behaviour of the protocolsupplied by the vendor, which simplifies implementation and any errorsin the proprietary protocol will not have a detrimental impact on thevendor-supplied protocol. Advantageously, this prevents the need forduplication of resources in order for an apparatus to have a particularfunction at the time of fabrication. This also advantageously makesspare resources available to a post-fabrication protocol withouthindering the performance or operation of the pre-qualified protocol.These spare resources are then available in a safe, controlled mannerfor uses that are not known at the time of fabrication.

In a set of embodiments said first protocol is implemented by apre-compiled protocol stack.

In a set of embodiments the device comprises a memory having a firmwaremodule stored at a firmware memory address, the firmware modulecomprising instructions forming part of the first application, whereinthe processor is configured to receive supervisor call instructions,each having an associated supervisor call number, and to respond to asupervisor call instruction by (i) invoking a supervisor call handler inthe firmware module, and (ii) making the supervisor call numberavailable to the call handler.

The first application may be loaded into the memory of the device suchthat the first application is stored at a predetermined applicationmemory address. The first application may be arranged to invoke a radiocommunication function from the firmware module by issuing a supervisorcall instruction having an associated predetermined supervisor callnumber corresponding to the function to be invoked.

In a set of embodiments the first and/or second request furthercomprises a session identification field. This allows either applicationto maintain multiple concurrent sessions under its associated protocol.This might be used for example to provide one session which allows thedevice to communicate with a mobile device such as a phone using aprotocol such as Bluetooth and to communicate with another device usingthe same protocol, e.g. Bluetooth.

The device of the first aspect of the invention could be arranged suchthat the control logic allocates said timeslots according to an order inwhich it receives said transmit requests. In a set of embodimentshowever said first transmit request comprises a first protocol prioritylevel indicator, said second transmit request, comprises a secondprotocol priority level indicator and the control logic is arranged inthe event of receiving conflicting first and second transmit requests toallocate said transmission timeslot based on said first and secondprotocol priority level indicators.

Similarly the device of the second aspect of the invention could bearranged such that the control logic allocates said timeslots accordingto an order in which it receives said receive requests. In a set ofembodiments however said first receive request comprises a firstprotocol priority level indicator, said second receive request comprisesa second protocol priority level indicator and the control logic isarranged in the event of receiving conflicting first and second receiverequests to allocate said reception timeslot based on said first andsecond protocol priority level indicators.

Thus where, in accordance with these embodiments of the invention, thecontrol logic receives conflicting first and second requests, it willallocate a timeslot according to the respective priority levelindicators. The enables protocols with real-time procedures to have morecontrol over completion of critical operations or sequences. In a set ofembodiments the control logic is arranged to issue a signal to theapplication which issued the request with the lower level priorityindicator that the request has been denied, The application may then(according to a predetermined algorithm) issue a further request. Thiscould be a request for the same timeslot but with a higher prioritylevel or a request for a later timeslot.

As well as issuing a transmit or receive request, the first or secondapplication may also be able to issue a request to access the radiomodule in order to prevent it from transmitting or receiving. This canbe useful for example where it is necessary to limit a maximum powerlevel for the device.

Although reference has been made herein to first and second radioprotocols this is not intended to be limiting and additional radioprotocols may be supported. This could be in the form of additionalvendor-supplied (e.g. pre-compiled) protocol stacks or additionaluser-defined protocol stacks.

The first and second applications may have the same set of prioritylevels available to them. In an alternative set of embodiments howeverthe first application has at least some higher priority levels availableto it than the second protocol. This makes it possible to ensure that avendor-supplied protocol is not excessively disrupted by a user-definedprotocol.

In a set of embodiments the first and/or second applications receivetiming information from the control logic.

When viewed from a further broader aspect, the invention provides asemiconductor device comprising a radio transmitter hardware section anda processor, the device being arranged to transmit information via saidtransmitter hardware section from a first application running on theprocessor in accordance with a first communication protocol or from asecond application running on the processor or a further processor usinga second communication protocol, wherein the first application isconfigured to generate a first transmit request when it requires to senda data packet and wherein the second application is configured togenerate a second transmit request when the second application requiresto send a data packet, the device further comprising control logic forallocating a transmission timeslot for said transmitter section to saidfirst or second application upon receipt of said first or secondtransmit requests respectively.

In a preferred set of embodiments, the device comprises an applicationprogramming interface configured to receive the second communicationprotocol.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of theinvention will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying figures.

A particular embodiment of the invention will now be described, by wayof example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a simplified system block diagram of a device in accordancewith the invention;

FIG. 2 is a simplified module block diagram of the device described withreference to FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are timing diagrams illustrating an operation of theembodiment;

FIG. 4 is a timing diagram illustrating a modified operation of theembodiment; and

FIG. 5 is a timing diagram illustrating a further operation of theembodiment.

Turning first to FIG. 1 there may be seen a schematic representation ofthe physical parts of a radio-enabled microprocessor device 2. Thiscould be provided as an integrated semiconductor component commonlyknown as a ‘System on Chip’ or ‘SoC’ arrangement. The device 2 could beincorporated into any of a large variety of differentapplications—either fixed or mobile—and may be configured to transmit,receive or both.

At the heart of the device 2 is a processor 4 which communicates with amemory 6. The processor 4 also communicates with a radio receiver 8 andradio transmitter 10 which share a common antenna 12 and which allowradio signals to be received and transmitted by the device, The generaldesign and operation of an SoC device are well known to those skilled inthe art and thus further details are not necessary here.

FIG. 2 shows the main functional modules of the device 2. At the lowerpart of the diagram is the hardware layer 14. This contains, among otherthings, the radio section 16 which includes the antenna 12 andamplifiers, analogue filters etc. which make up the transmitter 10 andreceiver 8 and which are well known per se in the art. In this examplethe radio section 16 is capable of both transmission (TX) and reception(RX). It also contains a hardware timer 42.

Above the hardware section 14 is a software implementation referred toherein as the SoftDevice 18. This is effectively firmware which isresident in a particular, protected part of the device's memory 6—namelythe firmware memory address. It comprises a first protocol stack 20which has instructions forming a first application implementing a firstradio protocol such as Bluetooth Low Energy™.

The first protocol stack 20 is able to communicate with control logic 22through requests 24 and returned signals 26. The control logic 22interfaces with a hardware access layer 28 which controls the operationof the radio hardware section 16 and communicates with the timer 42.

The functions of the firmware module comprising the first protocol stack20 can be accessed by the processor 4 using service calls. Thus theprocessor receives supervisor call instructions, each having anassociated supervisor call number, and responds to supervisor callinstructions by (i) invoking a supervisor call handler in the firmwaremodule, and (ii) making the supervisor call number available to the callhandler.

In addition to the SoftDevice 18 described above, the device alsoincludes a further, unprotected area of application memory 30. Thisincludes a second protocol stack 32 which comprises a second protocolstack 32 which has instructions forming a second applicationimplementing a second radio protocol such as a proprietary radioprotocol developed by a customer purchasing the device 2 forincorporation into a product. The second protocol stack 32 is also ableto communicate with the control logic 22 through corresponding requests34 and returned signals 36. The processor 4 can access the applicationmemory area 30 directly and so does not need to employ supervisor callinstructions.

As will become further apparent hereinbelow, the arrangement of thedevice is such that the first protocol stack 20 and the second protocolstack 32 are completely independent of one another yet can easily sharethe radio resources 6. In particular it will be seen that this can beachieved without the second protocol stack 32, which may be written notby the device manufacturer but by a third party developer, needing toknow or take account of the detailed operation and timings of the first,‘built-in’ protocol stack 20.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show operation of the embodiment which is described withreference to FIGS. 1 and 2. It may be seen that the diagram includesfive vertical lines which represent different respective parts of thesystem as will be described. The first vertical line represents thesoftware application 30 which includes the second protocol stack 32 forimplementing the developer's proprietary radio protocol. The secondvertical line 38 represents an application programming interface (API)which is offered to the application 30 by the SoftDevice 18. This formspart of the control logic 22 shown in FIG. 2. The third vertical line 40represents the Radio Event Manager (REM) which comprises part of theHardware Access Layer 28 (see FIG. 2). The fourth vertical linerepresents the radio hardware 16 and the fifth line represents thehardware timer 42.

The operation which will be described here commences with a call 34.1from the application 30 to the API 38 to open a session. The API 38 thenpasses on a corresponding call 44.1 to the REM 40. Subsequently, the API38 sends a call to the REM 40 to open a session in the REM.

Sometime after the session is opened, the application 30 makes a furtherrequest 34.2 for access to the radio resources for a period of time. Therequest includes an indication of how far in the future the access willbe required, for how long access is required and also a priority leveldetermined by the protocol stack 32 for that particular request. Again,the API 38 passes on a corresponding call 44.2 to the REM 40 tocalculate the radio timeslot start which is then followed by a secondcall 44.3 to request the radio timeslot. This ends the sequence by whichthe application 30 requests a radio timeslot.

At the time specified in the radio request, the REM 40 issues a signal46.1 indicating that the API 38 should prepare to receive a call-backand a second signal 46.2 which is the call-back itself. The call-back46.2 represents an indication from the REM 40 that the application 30 isbeing granted the radio timeslot that it requested—i.e. that it now hasaccess to the radio. The API 38 therefore passes on a call-back 36.1 tothe application 30 so that it may begin using the radio 16. When theapplication 30 receives the call-back 36.1 it restarts an internal timerso that its timer is referenced to the last requested radio timeslot.This means that when it requests the next radio timeslot the request ismade relative to the last radio timeslot that the application requested.This allows the application 30 to operate without access to the clock onwhich the SoftDevice 18 is running which facilitates their functionalseparation.

Operation of the embodiment will be further described with reference toFIG. 3B. The top half of FIG. 3B shows operation while the applicationhas access to the radio 16. The first signal shown is conveyed by asignal call-back 48.1 from the hardware timer 42 to the REM 40. This isthen propagated back to the application 30 by a call-back signal 46.3from the REM 40 to the API 38 and a subsequent callback signal 36.2 fromthe API 38 to the application 30. Similarly, a signal generated by theradio 16 can be propagated via call-back signals 50.1, 46.4 and 36.3.This mechanism allows the application 30 to have access to a highaccuracy, high frequency timer from within a timeslot. These events alsoallow the application to get all the information it requires about theradio state and gives the application access to the resources it needsto exploit the complete radio feature set while it has the event. Theremay of course be several signals conveyed by the signal callback duringa particular radio timeslot.

The lower part of FIG. 3B illustrates the procedure for ending theapplication's access to the radio timeslot. This begins with aSoftDevice event interrupt in the form of a signal 36.4 from the API 38to the application 30 which indicates to the application that an eventhas been generated. The application 30 then issues a call 34.3 in replyto establish what the SoftDevice event was. This is a generic mechanismby which a SoftDevice event is provided to the application 30. At alater time, a further call 34.4 from the application 30 is sent to theAPI 38 indicating that the application has finished using the radio.This is propagated in a further call 44.4 to the REM 40 to close thesession. The API 38 then sends an interrupt signal 36.5 to indicate theSoftDevice event generated due to the closed session. This isacknowledged by the call 34.5 from the Application 30 to the API 38.

It can be seen that in accordance with the procedure described above,the application 30 can request and be granted access to the radioresources by means of the API 38.

FIG. 4 shows further an operation of the device when a request for radioresources is not granted to the application e.g. because it conflictswith another request from the built-in radio protocol. In this diagram,only the application 30, API 38 and Radio Event Manager 40 are shown inorder to improve clarity.

At the beginning of the procedure the application 30 sends a call 34.6to open a session which is propagated to the REM 40 by a further call44.5. This part of the operation is identical to that described withreference to FIG. 3A. Again, just as in FIG. 3A, a request 34.7 from theapplication 30 to the API 38 is sent, which is propagated as call 44.6and 44.7 from the API 38 to the REM 40.

Sometime later, a signal 46.5 is sent from the REM 40 to the API 38 toindicate that the request for a radio timeslot has been denied orblocked. This generates a SoftDevice event in the API 38 which iscommunicated to the application 30 by the standard pair of signal 36.6and call 34.8.

Thereafter, the application 30 makes a further request for a radiotimeslot 34.9. This request could be for a different timeslot or couldbe for the same timeslot as the previous request but with a higherpriority. As before, the request is propagated by the API 38 to the REM40 by means of call 44.7 and 44.8. Although not shown, this then resultsin a timeslot being granted and the procedure is then as described withreference to FIG. 3B above. The procedure 52 for closing the session isthen followed which is the same as was described with reference to FIG.3B.

FIG. 5 shows a variation of the operation which is described withreference to FIG. 4. In fact, the operation shown in FIG. 5 is identicalto that in FIG. 4 except that the signal 46.6 from the REM 40 to the API38 indicates that the radio timeslot which was previously granted hasbeen cancelled. This reflects the fact that timeslots are requested fora time in the future and even if granted can be cancelled if aconflicting request with a higher priority for the same timeslot isreceived before the timeslot has started.

It will be appreciated that the operation has been described withreference to the application 30, which implements the second protocolstack 32, although exactly the same procedure applies for the firstprotocol stack 20 which is supplied pre-installed on the device. It maybe thus appreciated that the API 38 and REM 40 between them allow asimple mechanism for granting access to the radio resources to eitherprotocol based on a system of requests which have a specific prioritylevel. This means that the radio resources can be shared without eitherprotocol needing to have any knowledge of the operation of the other.The priority levels available to the respective protocols can beconfigured so that the protocols can function with critical transmissionand reception taking place but with less critical events potentiallyhaving to wait, in an ordered manner, whilst more critical events fromthe other protocol are processed. Typically, the range of prioritylevels given to the user-implemented protocol stack 32 will not includethe very highest priority levels which are only available to thepre-installed standard protocol stack 20. This ensures for example thata user-implemented protocol cannot unduly compromise the operation of acertified standard protocol.

We claim:
 1. A semiconductor device comprising a radio transmitterhardware section and a processor, the device being arranged to transmitinformation via said transmitter hardware section from a firstapplication running on the processor in accordance with a firstcommunication protocol or from a second application running on theprocessor or a further processor using a second communication protocol,wherein the first application is configured to generate a first transmitrequest when it requires to send a data packet and wherein the secondapplication is configured to generate a second transmit request when thesecond application requires to send a data packet, the device furthercomprising control logic for allocating a transmission timeslot for saidtransmitter section to said first or second application upon receipt ofsaid first or second transmit requests respectively, the device furthercomprising an application programming interface which permits the secondprotocol to be defined.
 2. The semiconductor device as claimed in claim1 wherein said first transmit request comprises a first protocolpriority level indicator, said second transmit request, comprises asecond protocol priority level indicator and the control logic isarranged in the event of receiving conflicting first and second transmitrequests to allocate said transmission timeslot based on said first andsecond protocol priority level indicators.
 3. A semiconductor devicecomprising a radio receiver hardware section and a processor, the devicebeing arranged to receive information via said receiver hardware sectionto a first application running on the processor in accordance with afirst communication protocol or to a second application running on theprocessor or a further processor using a second communication protocol,wherein the first application is configured to generate a first receiverequest when it requires to receive a data packet and wherein the secondapplication is configured to generate a second receive request when thesecond application requires to receive a data packet, the device furthercomprising control logic for allocating a reception timeslot for saidreceiver section to said first or second application upon receipt ofsaid first or second receive requests respectively, the control logicbeing arranged in the event of receiving conflicting first and secondreceive requests to allocate said reception timeslot based on said firstand second protocol priority level indicators.
 4. A semiconductor deviceas claimed in claim 3 wherein said first receive request comprises afirst protocol priority level indicator, said second receive requestcomprises a second protocol priority level indicator and the controllogic is arranged in the event of receiving conflicting first and secondreceive requests to allocate said reception timeslot based on said firstand second protocol priority level indicators.
 5. The semiconductordevice as claimed in claim 2 wherein the control logic is arranged toissue a signal to the application which issued the request with thelower level priority indicator that the request has been denied.
 6. Thesemiconductor device as claimed in claim 1 comprising a memory having afirmware module stored at a firmware memory address, the firmware modulecomprising instructions forming part of the first application, whereinthe processor is configured to receive supervisor call instructions,each having an associated supervisor call number, and to respond to asupervisor call instruction by (i) invoking a supervisor call handler inthe firmware module, and (ii) making the supervisor call numberavailable to the call handler.
 7. The semiconductor device as claimed inclaim 6 wherein the first application is loaded into said memory suchthat the first application is stored at a predetermined applicationmemory address.
 8. The semiconductor device as claimed in claim 6wherein the first application is arranged to invoke a radiocommunication function from the firmware module by issuing a supervisorcall instruction having an associated predetermined supervisor callnumber corresponding to the function to be invoked.
 9. The semiconductordevice as claimed in claim 1 wherein the first and/or second requestfurther comprises a session identification field.
 10. The semiconductordevice as claimed in claim 1 wherein the first and/or secondapplications are arranged to receive timing information from the controllogic.
 11. The semiconductor device as claimed in claim 4 wherein thecontrol logic is arranged to issue a signal to the application whichissued the request with the lower level priority indicator that therequest has been denied,
 12. The semiconductor device as claimed inclaim 3 comprising a memory having a firmware module stored at afirmware memory address, the firmware module comprising instructionsforming part of the first application, wherein the processor isconfigured to receive supervisor call instructions, each having anassociated supervisor call number, and to respond to a supervisor callinstruction by (i) invoking a supervisor call handler in the firmwaremodule, and (ii) making the supervisor call number available to the callhandler.
 13. The semiconductor device as claimed in claim 12 wherein thefirst application is loaded into said memory such that the firstapplication is stored at a predetermined application memory address. 14.The semiconductor device as claimed in claim 12 wherein the firstapplication is arranged to invoke a radio communication function fromthe firmware module by issuing a supervisor call instruction having anassociated predetermined supervisor call number corresponding to thefunction to be invoked.
 15. The semiconductor device as claimed in claim3 wherein the first and/or second request further comprises a sessionidentification field.
 16. The semiconductor device as claimed in claim 3wherein the first and/or second applications are arranged to receivetiming information from the control logic.